The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-04-28
a Burning Question.

nave come to believe there is an inherent
tight in the Institution of government, by
which the system is sustained. Itisregarded
as an Innovation upon sacred custom to
question the policy of license, and an
of some natural immunity,
ciety. 1t is custom so hoary with age
SO sanctified by the usage of generations
past, that to invade it, is considered little
less than iconaclism. and an offenSe against
crystaliZed traditions which have come
down to us frem our forefathers with
like divine prerogative. The
of the distinction between Ii
cense to sell liquors and the license to
transact any other kind of business is new
er thought of. Tile inquiry is scarcely
ever made as to what is intended in the
precautions the law throws around liquor
license to advertise it as dangerous priv
ilege, which are absent in almost every
other kind of traffic. The State recog-
nizes it as questionable privilege by the
very guards that are provided when 1t IS
granted. 1t is not allowed that any man
can go to the assessor, inquire the amount
of license pay il and receive authority to en-
gage in the business it authorizes. The
applicant must first establish that his
character is good that he is proper per-
son to be entrusted with this dangerous
privilege, and that the place where he
proposes to do business is aproper locality
It is not SO with any other class of bust
ness. These precautions as much as say
the State is assuming serious RESPONSE
bility when it gives its sanction to priv
| lege that is liable TO abuse, and to infllct
serious harm upon community. Yet this
grave view of the question is rarely ever
referred to; yor is the inquiry pressed
whether the State has the right to license
! a thing that has in it so many sources OF
| injury to The body polite, and so little of
advantage to commend it. 1t is privi-
| lego involving public policy that affects the
! general welfare, for the conservation of
which government was instituted. And
| it is only as a means of providing revenue
| that the State should possibly recognize it..
| If it cannot be demonstrated to be an es
sential deysement to preserve the life of
the State and promote the general good, it
cannot be defended at al. In every other
respect the danger growing out of it, is
palpable, indsputa5le. terrible. If it can
| be shown that the costs to the State, in the
prosecution of the crimes it entails. the
loss TO the Commonwealth of the labor
and brains of those whose usefulness be-
comes impaired by reason of the tenipla-
ton which the license system offers the
expense it imposes for the support of those
made paupers by the use of liquor the
retardment of legitimate business, on &C
count of the withdrawal from the chan
nels Of trade of the money paid for drink,
and other sources of loss to the Com
monwealth, aggregate greater sum Than
the amount of license for the privilege OF
selling liquors, then there is not the sem
| blance of an argument to sustain the pol
icy. With the merely mercerary consider
alton Of dollars and cents failure, where
can an excuse or defence for the license
system be found 1t certainly will not be
looked for in the disorder of society; the
broken peace of families; the corrapted
youth Of community, Or any OF the whole
range Of social and moral ramiications
and influences affected by it. AS a ques
ton of State economy, it is lamentablt
failure; and as question of public policy
affecting the moraland intellectual growth
and yigor of the people: the peace anc
happiness of the domestic circle, and the
progress and prosperity of the Common
wealth it is worse than a failure--it il a
heinous crime.
1t is the duty Of the people to analyze
this matter-consder it in all of its phases
involving every interest of community
and reaching into the future to mould the
moral sentiment of those who will COME
after us. This is responsibility that can
not be eyaded with impunity, and no one
who has the good of his fellow men at
heart, would wish to escape from the duty
that its study imposes.
If the license system is a failure as a
means Of revenue-and when both sides
of the question are examined impartial
IL. such it will be found-then the inquiry
| comes up. has the State the right to give
its sanction to policy that SO directly and
| intimately relates to the well being OF the
people and from the very nature OF the
traffic it authorizes. necessarily affects them
| iniuriously The answer must be, from
every sound thinker, that it has not. What
right has the State to legalize temptation
to the youth of the country, which ex
perience has proven has wrought out the
| wreck and ruin of so many of the brightest
of intellects has deprived community OF
the talent and energies of those endowed
with capacities for usefulness, and which,
Il not perverted by the invitation and
agency of The State, would contribute to
the advancement Of civilization, the ele
/ yation of the moral tone of society, and
the betterment of the condition of man.
kind. Let the question be considered,
apart from the fact that the license system
has come down 10 us through generations
as a part of our State economy. with
| scarcely thought of its demOralizing ma
ture or the multiplied evils it entails or
the delusion that it is a means of reve
nue. and there is no one who can success.
| fully controyert the charge that it is the
source of unmitigated crime without a
single reason to be urged in its defence, or
a mitigating suggestion to justify the law
making power to inflict it upon society.
With the lights before us and the dan
gegous nature of thepriyilege assured by Ii.
| cense, as demonstrated in the sad expe
rience of every community, would itnot
be wise for the pre- sent generation to place
It's condemnation upon a policy that is
| fraugha with so much harm Its evils
have grown as the privilege has been en-.
| arged, until its abuses have become a
part of the system. The privilege and the
| abuses cannot be divorced. They are insep.
cradle. The one is followed. as the night
the day, by the other. To grant license
means the debauchery of youth. the impOv-
erishment Of homes, the misery and desti-
tuition of innocent women and CHI ldren I'll e
multiplication OF crimes, the arrest of use-
full industry, the pervelsion and abuse of
- H.